shop-talk
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [Shop-talk] Question on car rental (and how to destroy a rental car,

To: shop-talk@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Shop-talk] Question on car rental (and how to destroy a rental car, and why to never buy one)
From: Wayne <wmc_st@xxiii.com>
Date: Sun, 02 Dec 2012 12:26:10 -0500
Delivered-to: mharc@autox.team.net
Delivered-to: shop-talk@autox.team.net
References: <50BB664C.8070307@landform.co.uk> <CAO8Q7CNYAUOfgg1xz=MemTmsMtPTZ0mjyxwcZLFUtuQmft74jQ@mail.gmail.com>
User-agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:16.0) Gecko/20121026 Thunderbird/16.0.2
On 12/2/2012 9:56 AM, Jeff Scarbrough wrote:
> It's been a while since I rented from National specifically, but I
> don't recall any problems generally.  But here's some tips for renting
> a car in the US:

I despise rental car companies. Some ding you for little junk, others 
could care less. Prices vary widely, and reservations are just a tease.

Back early-mid 1990s, I had to displeasure of getting one while my DD 
was in the shop. It was a POS Dodge "Sundance" or some similar garbage, 
built poorly on what was probably their "K car" chassis of yore. It was 
-20 dF in Ohio, and roommate & I had gone to grocery in it. The 
passenger door refused to latch. So... he opened it again, and tugged 
harder. Still no latch. Repeat 3rd time, and pull pretty hard (but not 
really abusive) -- BANG!!! - window glass shatters out and flies all 
over us. Still no latch. Pissed now ... 4th try and REALLY slam the F*** 
out of it, finally it latches. Drive home with -20 wind blasting in.

Returned next day. Tried to be nice. "Maybe assembly line put it in 
wrong so there was some pre-stress on the glass, contributing to the 
fracture that should not have happened??" Dumb c*** says "Nonsense, that 
is a BRAND NEW CAR, It CAN NOT HAVE *ANYTHING* WRONG WITH IT." Excuse 
me, it's a Chrysler POS, it's pretty much guaranteed to have some, if 
not multiple things "wrong" with it when brand new. Stupid, ignorant, b***h.

Advised I'll be charged for the damage, and possible down time on the 
car. They give me an even uglier version of the same POS Dodge, a 
"Shadow" or some garbage with a faux hood scoop and asinine decals on 
this god-awfully underpowered 2 door poser secretary's "sports car", so 
tacky that I'm embarrassed to even be seen in.

Gonna charge me, eh? Proceed to start doing neutral drops and brake 
launches everywhere I go, with what little torque the POS can muster. 
Junk OEM tires and sub zero temps help get some really abusive wheel hop 
and tire spin. After 4 days, the rental is up and the transmission is 
making some BAD noises. I limp it back ever so gently to the office to 
finish our ordeal. I am VERY sure the next person who drove it, or tried 
to accelerate to highway speed had the transaxle explode. MwuHaHaHa! 
"new car -- can't have anything wrong with it."

Was sent a bill for $200 window glass replacement, and $500 lost rental 
time. I responded with quotes from three different glass companies 
saying they could have replaced it same day, on site, for well under $100.

Never heard back from them  :)

-Wayne
_______________________________________________

Shop-talk@autox.team.net
Archive: http://www.team.net/archive

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>